Millennium City Magic
by Maloran
Summary: When Harry was young, he and the Dursleys move to Millennium City. During the Qularr attack a few years later, he comes across a set of power armor, and his path in destiny changes.
1. How Harry found the Armor

Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter nor Champions Online, though I am on there when I can't think of a thing to write. For once, I actually got an idea from there.

* * *

**Chapter One - How Harry found the armor**

Harry James Potter had faced a lot of things in his young life, some he knew of, some he didn't. Some things he did know was hunger, mostly due to his Aunt Petunia, and pain, which were caused by his overly large uncle and cousin. He also knew that he was very intelligent, learning how to read by the time he was three, and knew enough to hide this valuable skill, and others as he learned them.

However, what he didn't know was that he survived a very powerful curse, the same one that killed his parents, though his aunt never told him that. Nor did he know his parents names, or anything related to them. Harry tried to ask once... he since learned to not do that again. His butt still hurts from the spanking.

Speaking of age three, it was during that time that Uncle Vernon was transferred to Grunning's US office in the newly rebuilt Millennium City, what was once Detroit. Unknown to the family, the person who would normally prevent this from happening, one Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, was currently on a diplomatic mission for the International Confederation of Wizards, and was therefore unavailable.

Once settled in Millennium City's City Center, both Dudley and Harry were enrolled in preschool. It was there that Dudley got his first punishment ever, for beating up his cousin. Vernon and Petunia were called in, and started blaming everything on Harry, which his teachers didn't believe for one second. Vernon then tried his second usual tactic, bribing. This instantly got the police called, and both Vernon and Petunia were in jail, with charges for bribery, as well as child abuse and neglect once Harry told the police about his home life.

Dudley and Harry were sent to separate foster homes, though Dudley was only temporarily placed while his Aunt Marge was arraigning to come over and get him. Harry was happy in Millennium City, and liked his foster family, so it was decided that he would remain as a US citizen, and was permanently placed with the Duncans, the family that took him in.

* * *

Time passed, as it usually does, and Harry is now nine. Thanks to the advanced medical research Millennium City is known for, Harry's body was repaired of all the damage from his time with the Dursleys, and was very tall for his age. Standing about 5' 1", and weighing around 97 pounds, most of it being slim but lightly developed muscles, Harry definitely stood out in a crowd.

On October 10th of his fourth grade year, Harry's class was on a field trip to the Downtown Millennium City Police Department for a tour. The class was in the storage area for police armaments when the building shook. The police officer they had for a guide radioed the front, and found out that an alien race called the Qularr was attacking. The guide was then told to stay where they are, as the storage area was heavily re-enforced. Unfortunately, no-one noticed Harry as he ran off into one of the rooms.

Harry was in a panic. He knew aliens existed, having seen Ironclad of The Champions from afar. He just didn't think that there would be those that would harm people, or at least not near Earth. He also knew about magic, or at least the version used by wizards and witches not associated with the great covens like The Trismegistus Council, which Witchcraft is a part of. She visited the school last year to speak in a school assembly and sensed Harry's power. She also knew who he was and his place in the British wizarding community, and told him everything she knew. She also sensed the darkness within the scar, and called in the council to remove it.

However, all that didn't matter as Harry blindly charged into one of the storage rooms. Closing the door, Harry leaned against it and sank to the floor not noticing the lights turning on automatically. As Harry was trying to catch his breath, a mechanical sounding voice called out.

**[Who is there?]** asked the voice.

Harry looked up with fear in his eyes. He realized he was in a room he wasn't supposed to be. As the building shook again with another explosion. He asked, "Who said that?"

**[I am the artificial intelligence module for the City Ordinance Mobile Bionic Assault Tank, or C.O.M.B.A.T. for short,]** said the voice. **[To ask again, who are you?]**

"My name is Harry James Potter, a student at Millennium City Elementary School," replied Harry. "My class was taking a tour when an alien race called the Qularr attacked."

**[You should not be here,]** said the A.I., **[however, I cannot fault you for panicking. I was designed for such situations as this attack, as I would be guiding the pilot of the suit over there.]** Harry saw a new light come on, and looked over to see a large power armor. The suit was black, with police blue on the armor itself. **[Unfortunately, while I and the suit were built as prototypes, budget cuts ended the project before it began. It was such revolutionary technology, as well. Bio-adaptive armor that can reform itself to whoever is operating it. Holo-matrix shielding that can take blows at Grond level. Weapons that, while still powerful, won't destroy buildings if being fired right next to one. If only there was a pilot. Oh well, even A.I.s can dream.]**

Harry was thinking furiously through all this. Now that his initial panic had eased, he wanted to help, but couldn't. He knew he had magic, but was untrained in it, as wizards and witches of his type stayed away from Millennium City like the plague. He was the only exception as he didn't know at the time. The A.I. wanted to help. The armor needed a pilot. There was only one way to resolve this.

"You said the armor needed a pilot. What if I piloted it?" asked Harry hopefully.

The A.I. didn't respond for a second, then a wide beam was emitted from one of the suit's sensors.

**[Scanning... subject too light to handle the suit. However, the nanite enhancers will take care of that once inside. Suit up, Mr. Potter, though you might want to strip to your underwear,]** said the A.I. as the helmet lifted off and the chest plate opened to allow access.

Harry jumped for joy, but then frowned when he heard he had to take his school clothes off. Sighing, he did as he was told, leaving himself in his favorite roomy boxers, then climbed inside. Gently easing himself into the crotch and legs, Harry settled himself in the roomy suit. Suddenly, the suit started to shrink, dropping down a little over a foot from it's original 7' 2" height, leaving Harry to wonder why the suit didn't shrink more.

**[Engaging nanite enhancers,]** said the A.I. Harry had forgotten about those, and winced in pain as a couple of pneumatic shots were injected into him. Instantly the nanites went to work, enhancing his body beyond normal parameters. Harry felt himself growing taller and broader, his muscles expanding. When it was over, Harry now stood at 5' 9", a gain of eight inches from his previous height, and looked to weigh about 220 pounds in heavily developed muscles, though he knew it was a lot more than that, as his muscles felt extremely dense.

His new height now allowed him to fit in the now six foot tall suit. (The soles of the armor's feet are 1 ½ " thick. The helmet is also this thickness, which accounts for the added three inches.) The chest plate then closed over Harry's body, and the helmet covered his head before shrinking to fit comfortably. Once everything was set, the armor's lights were powered on and the holographic HUD was activated.

"Wow, this is incredible!" exclaimed Harry. It was then that one of the teachers and a police officer came into the room, having discovered that Harry ran off. The officer looked over at the armor and asked depressingly, "Mr. Potter, please tell me you didn't activate the suit?"

"Sorry, sir," said Harry apologetically. "I wanted to help, and so did the A.I., so we decided to work together." Just then, the both the officer's radio and the one built into the suit went off with a call from Defender, the leader of The Champions, telling any heroes in the area to meet with Sergeant McAvoy about three blocks east of the Downtown police station.

The officer sighed. "Alright Mr. Potter, if you're going to do this, and the A.I. wants you to do this, then I'll give whatever support I can. I'll radio ahead to let Sgt. McAvoy know to expect you." The officer grabbed the mic, but when he pressed the call button, all he got was static.

"Blast, they must be jamming the frequencies," said the officer.

"Harry, please, you don't have to do this. You could get hurt," said the teacher.

"And so could a lot of others," replied Harry. "I now have the power to help others, especially all the other little kids out there who are separated from their parents and are frightened. I would not feel right if I knew I could help, but didn't."

"Alright, Harry, if you feel this is what you need to do then do so," said the teacher.

**[Sir, I've scanned the jamming signal from the Qularr ships. While radio frequencies, as well as travel powers save for The Champions, are being jammed, the emergency teleporter is still active, since it runs on a frequency that currently is unblocked. Mr. Potter and I could teleport to Sgt. McAvoy's location. However, it will be a one shot, as once they get the signal, it will be blocked,]** said the A.I.

"Do it, then," said the officer, who was writing something down. "Mr. Potter, this is a note for Mayor Biselle. He was in a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce in the Samson Building on expanding business in City Center when the attack hit. It will explain why the suit was activated and who's piloting it."

"He's not going to be too happy to hear that," said Harry with a pained look on his face, though it wasn't seen due to the helmet.

"Yeah, and the press is going to have a field day when they find out a kid got access to high grade police technology, especially technology that has a safety feature that binds the suit to its pilot's biology and can only unlock when the pilot dies or he uses the unlock codes," said the officer. "Thankfully, that's not my department. Alright, from now until the invasion is taken care of, you'll be operating under the suit's call sign, C.O.M.B.A.T. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" saluted C.O.M.B.A.T. The young man took the note, then said to the A.I., "Engage teleport."

**[Teleport engaged,]** replied the module. C.O.M.B.A.T. was enveloped in a field of blue light. When the light fades, he found himself staring into chaos. Above them, Qularr star fighters were flying through the air, firing at anything on the ground or at buildings. Near the ruined Chamber of Commerce building the area was crawling with Qularr drones. Heros other than The Champions were helping out in fighting the oversized bugs and rescuing the citizens trapped by the force fields that were set up.

"This is going to be harder than I though," said Harry to himself.

**[You can say that again,]** said the module.

"You know what? You need a name. I'm going to call you A.M.O.S. - A.I. Module Operation System," said Harry.

**[A.M.O.S... I like it,]** said the newly named A.M.O.S. **[Anyway, let's go meet Sgt. McAvoy. He's across the street waving his arms.]**

C.O.M.B.A.T. looked over, found the waving officer, and headed towards him.

Sgt. McAvoy looked up at the power suit heading towards him. "Oh, man. I didn't think we were that desperate to have to activate the suit. Well, now that you're here, head over to talk with Socrates, he and some officers set up a test area to see if your attack powers are still working," said the sergeant.

C.O.M.B.A.T. just nodded, and headed over to the Socrates terminal a few steps away.

**[Greetings, C.O.M.B.A.T. Your suit's A.I. informed me of who you are, as well as why and how the suit was activated,]** said Socrates. **[Now, to ensure that at least your basic attack powers are working, for you, that is your Power Bolts and Power Gauntlet, please head south on the street behind you to the test area. The Qularr seeded the area with their pods, and we don't want them to hatch into Firebugs.]**

"On it," said C.O.M.B.A.T., his voice modulated to sound older thanks to A.M.O.S. Turning around, C.O.M.B.A.T. ran to the street and followed it to the site. Quickly targeting the nearest pod, he fired a few Power Bolts from the palms of his hands at it, noting the slow decrease in the health of the pod, as well as the increase in energy for his attacks.

**[Harry, try using the Power Gauntlet,]** said A.M.O.S. Holding his fists out in front of him, C.O.M.B.A.T. charged up a powerful blast and fired it at the pod, wiping out the other half of the pod's health, while at the same time, lowering his energy level, though it slowly recharged.

**[So that's how the system works,]** said A.M.O.S. **[The power generator is set up for the Power Bolts alone, but the bolts themselves require very little energy, so the rest is siphoned off into storage tanks to use together with the generator for stronger attacks.]**

"Makes sense," replied Harry as he went back to blasting the pods. A few moments later, C.O.M.B.A.T. decided that his starting weapons were working perfectly, so he left the pods to others needing to test their weapons and went back to Socrates.

**[Ah, I see the test came out perfect,]** said the city A.I. as C.O.M.B.A.T. arrived back at the terminal. **[Now that everything is working to the best of your abilities, go see Mayor Biselle. He has a mission for you.]**

"Well, time to face the music," said C.O.M.B.A.T., and he set off to the canopy where the mayor and his daughter were seeking refuge.

* * *

Mayor Calvin Biselle was trying to organize and co-ordinate the combined forces of the MCPD and PRIMUS when something he never though of seeing walked up to him.

"Alright, whose bright idea was it to activate C.O.M.B.A.T.?" he asked.

Standing at ease, the power suit fighter handed over the note the police officer gave him earlier. Reading the note, Mayor Biselle's face became more and more stern.

"Young man, after this is over with, we have a lot to talk about," he said to C.O.M.B.A.T., before sighing, "but right now, beggars can't be choosers. Alright, here's your first mission. When the Samson Building was bombed, I left behind my laptop and my briefcase. The laptop holds a disc with the city's Emergency Response Plan, while my briefcase has the activation codes. I need you to get those so I can get a signal outside the shield and co-ordinate the counterattack better."

"On my way, sir," said C.O.M.B.A.T. with a salute. The young hero in training left the canopy and headed towards the ruined building, but before he made it even ten steps, he ran into one of the Champions, Sapphire, almost literally, though it wasn't his fault, as she wasn't watching where she was landing.

"Whoa! Oops, sorry about that," said Sapphire as she looked at who she almost ran over. "Oh... oh wow. I've heard of this suit. I just never though I'd see it active."

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I need to go retrieve the items the mayor needs to get some control on this assault," said C.O.M.B.A.T.

"Oh, such a deep, rich voice. You sound cute," said Sapphire with a wink. Harry inside the suit felt disgusted.

"Ma'am, I'm going to let you in on a secret. I'm truthfully only nine years old," he said, sending the super-heroine into shock.

"Truthfully?" asked Sapphire desperately. C.O.M.B.A.T. nodded in response, and she dropped her head in shame.

"Talk with Witchcraft about me when this is over, as she should sense who I am, even through the armor," said C.O.M.B.A.T. as he hurried off to get the disc and papers.

"Oh, man, both Bethany and Brendan are going to be taking cracks at me for this," said Sapphire, shaking her head in dejection.

* * *

This was basically the rest of Harry's day. Fight off the Qularr, find missing items or people, rescue the occasional cat, and just start his reputation as a hero. He even helped out that moron Foxbat. (FB - Hey, who are you calling a moron?) [A - Author Oblitera...] (FB - I'm out of here!)

After delivering the scan results to the Dr. Silverback holo-com, C.O.M.B.A.T. joined up with a bunch of other heroes alongside Ironclad in keeping the Qularr away from the cannon while it was being assembled. After three waves of assaults, the Qularr were pushed back. With the cannon now complete, C.O.M.B.A.T. was sent to Witchcraft to gain access to Champions HQ.

Witchcraft and the PRIMUS soldiers were keeping the Qularr from entering the building when a hero in blue power armor ran up. However, she also felt magical energy coming from within the suit. Very familiar energy.

"Harry James Potter, what are you doing in that suit?" asked Witchcraft in a huff.

"Sorry, Witchcraft. I panicked when the attack started and I ran into the room that held the suit, and things went from there," said C.O.M.B.A.T. in Harry's normal voice.

"That's right, my daughter did say they were taking a tour of one of the police stations today," said one of the PRIMUS soldiers.

Witchcraft just sighed, placing a hand on her forehead. "Well, since you're already a part of this mess, here's the access key. Go and help Defender," she said.

"Thanks, Witchcraft," said C.O.M.B.A.T. in his disguised voice, taking the access key and heading off to the entrance.

"Defender is going to flip when he finds out just _who_ is using the suit Harmon developed," said Witchcraft as she returned to the defense of the building.

* * *

Upon entering Champions HQ, Harry was in awe of the architectural grandeur. But that didn't last long as he heard electrical discharges, weapons fire and pounding from the surrounding rooms.

**[Harry, pay attention. You can explore the building after the crisis is over,]** said A.M.O.S.

"Sorry about that," said Harry to the A.I. Harry headed over to the room on the left, and saw two Qularr drones fighting two robots. Harry thought the robots looked familiar and asked A.M.O.S. to cross-reference them.

**[Scanning... the robots are Destroids, creations of Dr. Destroyer. The bots currently seen are Trooper Bots,]** said A.M.O.S.

"Great, just what we need," said Harry as he entered the room and started firing on the Qularr first, then the Trooper Bots, knocking out the first, and destroying the others. Harry then backtracked and repeated this step in the other rooms as he headed towards the Champions Gallery.

**[Careful, Harry, as there are two other Destroids in the gallery. Gun Drones, which are basically mobile gatling guns, and the ones that all others take the group name from, the Destroid,]** said A.M.O.S.

"How many?" asked Harry.

**[Looks to be three, though there might be others in the building. My sensors are limited in the building right now due to the Qularr signals,]** said the A.I.

"I'll take what I can get," said Harry as he charged into the fray, taking down the rest of the Qularr and helping Defender with the Destroids.

"Alright hero, over here," said Defender over by the doorway. C.O.M.B.A.T. walked over to the leader of the Champions.

"I didn't think the police were ever going to activate that suit," said Defender.

"They didn't, sir," said C.O.M.B.A.T. as he quickly went into the explanation of what all's been happening.

"You've got to be kidding me," said Defender.

"I wish I wasn't," said Harry in his normal voice.

"Well put the voice filter back on, as I don't want who we're facing next to remember your voice," said Defender as they headed towards the doors on the other end of the hallway. "Black Talon is out adversary. We need to stop him before he can lay waste to all of Millennium City." Defender then blasted the doors off their hinges and the pair entered the museum. Standing in front of them was a man in power armor twice as tall as C.O.M.B.A.T.

Defender and C.O.M.B.A.T. rushed forward, and the fight was on. Both sides were firing all th weapons they had access to, neither giving an inch. After a few volleys, the pilot for Black Talon started entering a sequence on his gauntlet. Both A.M.O.S. and Defender picked up on the energy buildup.

**[Blo**ck!" yelled the two of them. C.O.M.B.A.T. quickly raised his arms in front of him, just as a barrage of missiles were launched at the heroes. Harry was shaken by the assault, but had stood his ground, and started returning fire once again. During all this, the Black Talon pilot kept taunting the pair, as well as binding them up in order to get free shots at them. A.M.O.S. kept a watch on the power meter for the opposing armor.

**[Good work, his suit only had one-third of it's power left,]** said the A.I. Just then, Destroids started to appear and were attacking Defender.

"I'll hold them off, you deal with Black Talon," said Defender as he turned his assault to the Destroids.

"You just had to provoke Murphy, didn't you?" said Harry to the A.I. as he continued attacking Black Talon. It took about five more minutes of attacking, blocking, dodging the satellite cannon, and breaking the wire binds to drop Black Talon and knock out the pilot. Making sure he was down, C.O.M.B.A.T. then turned his attention to the rest of the Destroids that were attacking Defender.

"Good work, kid. Now we need to stop those beacons. The signal they transmit is what's making the Qularr crazy," said Defender. Between the two of them, they made short work of the remaining Destroids and shut the beacons off.

"Now we need to go to the Defense Control Room, launch Ironclad, and stop this invasion." The two heroes rushed to the control room and made it to the console.

"Go for it! Launch The Ironclad Defense!" said Defender. C.O.M.B.A.T., unseen, made a raised eyebrow look at Defender, but activated the launch sequence for Ironclad.

* * *

Outside, Ironclad was placed in his hyper-velocity shell and was launched at the Qularr mothership. The shell easily penetrated the shield and the hull of the ship, knocking it out of the sky. With the destruction of the mothership, the rest of the Qularr fled.

It took a couple of months for the city to be rebuilt from the invasion, though there were some things that couldn't be rebuilt. Harry's foster parents were in their home when the invasion took place, and was one of the buildings destroyed. There were no survivors.

This was one of the things that was being discussed in a meeting between Harry, The Champions save for Defender, James Harmon the IV, CEO of Harmon Industries, and Mayor Biselle.

"Okay, let me get this straight. Mr. Potter here is a wizard, a different type of one than the ones in The Trismegistus Council. The whole group of them in Europe are so stuck in the Victorian Era they're lucky to even have the radio, and not only that, he's considered a hero in that backwards community for just sitting there acting cute while a psychopath that was created within their community blasted him with an unstoppable curse, but was reflected for some unknown reason," stated Mayor Biselle calmly.

"Correct so far, Mayor," said Witchcraft. "From what I found out from the goblins at Gringotts in Salem, the Potter will was ignored, when Dumbledore left Harry here with those relatives of his."

"Yeah, I read the judge's report on the case when they were sentenced," said Mayor Biselle nodding.

"Anyway, Harry was supposed to go to his Godfather, Sirius Black, but he was tossed into jail for a crime he didn't commit. The council called on the spirits to find out what happened and found that another family friend, one Peter Pettigrew, was the actual betrayer, and was hiding in his rat form. The council found him and brought him to justice, freeing Sirius. He'll be here soon to take charge of Harry as he should, though unfortunately, Albus Dumbledore will be coming along as well." She said this with a wince.

"Well, now that his housing is taken care of, what are we going to do about the armor?" asked the mayor.

"Harmon Industries, though they helped design the prototype suit, sold operational control of it to the city when said prototype was developed," said Mr. Harmon.

"I know that, James, but when we ran the numbers, there just wasn't enough to run the prototype, let alone a series of them, and there's even less now with the cleanup from the invasion," said Mayor Biselle.

"Maybe I can help," said a voice by the door.

Everyone looked over to see a tall man in a slightly out of date suit, brownish-black hair with flecks of grey in it, and laughing blue-grey eyes.

"Mr. Black, you're early," said Witchcraft.

"Yeah, I was being tailed by Dumbledore himself. I managed to get him tied up with the council leader in Renaissance Center, and yes, I got a map when I landed at the airport," said Sirius when he came into the room. He looked over at everyone there stopping on the one person he always wants to see.

"Harry, pup, is... is that you?" he asked of his now over-sized godson.

Harry didn't answer for a moment, as he was in a memory, one that appeared to be from before the Dursleys. Harry was a little baby, and he saw a younger version of this man talking baby talk with him, before changing into a large black dog.

"P...Pa...Padfoot?" asked a trembling Harry as stumbled slightly towards Sirius.

"You remember me, pup?" asked Sirius with his arms open wide. Harry rushed into them, knocking the two of them over.

"Don't ever, _ever_, leave me again, Padfoot," said a sobbing Harry.

"Never again," agreed Sirius.

"As you were saying as you came in, you can help?" asked the mayor.

"Yeah, I'm willing to buy the suit from the city and take over it's operational costs," said Sirius he and Harry got up from the floor.

"Padfoot, a suit like that has got to cost around $600 million," said Harry, thinking that was way too much to spend.

"How much is that in galleons?" asked Sirius.

"I asked the goblins should this come up, and the amount translates to 20.12 million galleons," said Witchcraft.

"Or about half a day's interest on my investments," said Sirius. "I'll have the goblins transfer the amount to my non-magical bank and write a check."

"Thank you, Mr. Black. With those funds, I now have the money to invest in the schools, especially Westside High School," said Mayor Biselle with relief.

"Ah, there you are, Mr. Black. Now just why are you in this city?" asked an old man whose voice sounded grandfatherly, in a condescending way. The old man looked over the people in the room, and his eyes fell on the young man. "Oh, good, you found Harry Potter. Come along, young Harry. I must get you back to your relatives."

"But my relatives were arrested for child abuse, bribery and resisting arrest. After a couple of years in jail here, they were deported with a ban on them to never come to the U.S.A. again," said Harry, anger apparent on his face. "Who are you, old man?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I am Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, and yes, it did take a lot of doing, but I managed to get the Dursleys freed of those trumped up charges..." started Dumbledore.

"I MADE THOSE CHARGES!" yelled Harry who rushed forward, grabbed the old man's long beard, and started swinging him around like a kid with an unwound yo-yo. After a few rotations, Harry let go, and the wizard was flung into the wall outside the meeting room. Harry then activated the com-watch that was made should he need to call the suit to him. "C.O.M.B.A.T., armor up!"

Within moments, there was teleportation beam that surrounded Harry as his clothing, save for the boxers, we exchanged for the armor.

"Whoa," said a shocked Sirius as he looked at Harry's armored form.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore was shaking his head dizzily. He had never in his life been treated like he had by a child who should have worshiped him. As he got his bearings, he found the palm of a metallic hand facing him, as a bolt of energy was formed in front of his crooked nose.

"Listen and listen well, Albus Dumbledore," said Harry, his voice undisguised and filled with loathing, as he wanted the old man to know just who he was dealing with. "You may be my future headmaster, seeing as my parents paid my tuition in full when I was born, but if you _ever_ try to manipulate and control me, both in and out of Hogwarts, I will make it my life's mission to see you die alone and forgotten. Your time has long since passed. I bring with me a new age of heroes, ones who are not blinded by ideals such as 'The Greater Good' or 'The Light'. We fight for the common good; for Justice, for Truth. We fight for what embodies both Light and Dark, for one can be Dark and still be good, while one can be Light, yet is still evil. Now go, and never darken this city with your presence again."

Walking back, but still had the bolt targeting him, C.O.M.B.A.T. watched as Dumbledore got up, brushed himself off, and apparated away.

"Well, pup, let's hope you didn't make an enemy of Dumbledore," said Sirius.

"I'll write to him... next year. It's gonna take me that long to calm down and not get worked up again by thinking about it," said Harry.

* * *

After taking an international portkey from Salem, Albus Dumbledore returned to his office at Hogwarts. Through the entire trip he was thinking about Harry, doing so with a much clearer mind than he has had in years. Apparently the threat of his own mortality was enough to snap him out of his senile-induced hubris.

_I have been at this way too long,_ he thought to himself. _I've been trying to guide the wizarding world in what _I_ thought it should go, never realizing that there are too many paths, and I've strayed from the beneficial ones. I think it's time I appoint someone to be Chief Warlock or Witch in my place in the Wizengamot at least, since the ICW only meets once every four years. Someone who I trust, but doesn't follow my views._

* * *

AN: I COULDN'T HELP IT! This was the most comfortable I've felt writing in a good long while. I wasn't even that comfortable with the Prototype crossover. Though most of that comfortable feeling was from a lot of stress bleeding off after my step-dad passed away earlier this month and all the arraignments were finalized. If you want to see the armor, even though the guy using it is different, here's the link:

champions-online / character_profiles / 9433968 / view

Also, I'm just making Dumbles senile. No manipulations, he's just nuts.


	2. Time Moves On

**Chapter Two - Time moves on**

A couple of months have passed since Harry gained the C.O.M.B.A.T. armor, though he has yet to take part in any major missions. For the most part he's been dealing with the non-gang criminals and the occasional megalomaniac who had neither power nor sense.

The reason for keeping Harry back was that The Champions felt that he shouldn't be exposed to major criminal elements like Zoe Loft or even Hi Pan (registered pedophiles). Sirius also put his foot down on going to hot zones such as Force Station Steelhead in Canada or Burning Sands in New Mexico.

Speaking of Sirius, he bought an apartment building in the Downtown area after everything with Harry was settled and the two moved into the penthouse. Sirius also took the time and hired Harmon Industries to help setup a high-tech containment area in the basement for another friend who was going to move in with them. After explaining that said friend was a werewolf, it was readily agreed for the safety of all.

A couple of weeks later, Remus Lupin, a.k.a. Moony, moved into the penthouse to help keep an eye on Harry while Sirius was busy dealing with the Wizengamot back in the United Kingdom. Thanks to Dumbledore's idiotic suggestion, Sirius was voted in as Chief Warlock when he retired from the spot. Thankfully, they only meet on the day after the equinoxes and solstices, unless there's an emergency, and everything's quiet for now.

Harry continued to do well in school, his grades well above average. Most of the kids wee shocked at Harry's new size and strength, but there have been many superheroes whose powers become active while a kid, so they figured that Harry had activated, and just decided to hold off on heroics until he was older. Oh, if only they knew. During this time, Harry visited Powerhouse, the hero training center, and got a new attack power, the Lightwave Slash, unlocked and got the Jetpack flight power activated.

During the weekends, after his regular homework was done and he wasn't on patrol, Sirius and Remus trained Harry in magical theory and the basics of potions, as well as Occlumency. Sirius wanted to add in Animagus training, but Remus put a hold on that, getting the grim animagus to wait until Harry's thirteen.

* * *

"I am going to shoot that old man!" yelled Sirius as he returned from the summer meeting of the Wizengamot.

"What did the idiots do now?" asked Remus as he was fixing lunch with Harry in the kitchen.

"Malfoy found out that Harry is here in the U.S., and was petitioning to take guardianship from me," said Sirius gruffly. "Thankfully he backed off once I told them that Harry is under the protection of The Trismegistus Council. Not even he would dare cross one of the most powerful covens on Earth. Fudge, however, needs a major history lesson, as he wanted to declare war on the coven to get Harry back on British soil."

"Moron," muttered Remus and Harry as they set the sandwiches on the bar, then went to get the fruit slices and butterbeer bottles.

"Yeah. Cooler heads prevailed, though I was ready to sock Fudge in the mouth for even suggesting that," said Sirius as his temper finally tapered off once the sight of food was in his vision, and the three had a quiet lunch just enjoying each others company.

After the food was done and the dished were cleaned, Remus asked Harry, "I know I've asked this before, but do you think your anger has run its course and you can write that letter to Dumbledore?"

Harry sighed, then said, "Yeah, the thought of that time no longer brings me to anger, and I can think rationally about it. I'll get to work on that letter right now." Harry then got up from the stool and headed up to his room.

Remus looked at Sirius after Harry left the kitchen. "He's a good kid," he said.

"But a terror to any criminal he catches while in that armor," replied Sirius while nodding in agreement.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was a week after the Wizengamot meeting, which he now sits on as an advisor, and he was still furious at the idiocy Minister Fudge and Lucius Malfoy tried to pull. The potions he was taking to keep his mind out of the senility he found himself in last fall were strained as is, and he can't take anymore at the moment or they'll lose effectiveness.

_Even I know better than to try and take on The Trismegistus Council, and that was even while I was in senility! _thought Dumbledore as he sat back in his chair, trying to calm his heart and mind.

A few minutes later, the headmaster was calm and focused on the end of the school year. As he was getting ready to read the final spending report of the year, he saw Sirius's owl fly in.

"Hello, Pollux. I take it you have a letter for me?" asked Dumbledore as the owl held out his leg. The headmaster then untied the letter and sent the owl to the Owlery to rest.

"Hmm, this is neither Sirius' or Remus' handwriting, so this must be a letter from Harry," he said as he unfolded the letter.

'_Dear Headmaster Dumbledore,_

_I write this letter to apologize for my actions in regards to our first meeting back in October. At the time I was angry at the thought of anyone taking me from my home to live with my corrupted, sinful relatives. Millennium City is my home, more so than Little Whinging, Surrey ever was. Here, I found the childhood I was denied by the Dursleys._

_But I also found my calling. C.O.M.B.A.T. is as much a part of me as The-Boy-Who-Lived is. I am a superhero, and I would like to continue being one during my time at Hogwarts. When I come to Hogwarts, I would like to bring my armor with me. The seers of The Trismegistus Council had a vision of me needing my armor at the school, and I felt that it would be a good idea to ask permission to have it._

_Sirius explained to me about senility and how it affects the mind. Again at the time I was angry at anyone that would take my happiness away from me, and taking into consideration the state of your mind at the time is why I would like to make amends and start again, and I forgive you for your actions, as you were not yourself._

_I hope to hear from you soon regarding the armor._

_Sincerely,_

_Harry James Potter'_

Albus finished the letter just as Professor McGonagall entered the office.

"Albus, it's time for dinner... what is wrong?" she asked as she saw tears fall from his eyes.

"Harry sent me a letter. He... he forgives me... yet I've done things to him that I should not be forgiven from," said Dumbledore through his tears.

Minerva picked up the letter that Dumbledore dropped and read it, eyes going wide at what Harry had written.

"So that's way you started taking mental fortifying potions," said McGonagall flatly. Dumbledore nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"In that case, Albus, we need to start making preparations. Those potions are only going to last you until the end of Harry's sixth year, at most, and even then, they'll fail occasionally, doing so more and more as your mind gets pushed to the limits of its tolerance," said the Deputy Headmistress. She looked back down at the letter and saw that there was a bit more. Opening it the rest of the way, she read out loud.

"P.S. There's a short list of superhero teams based in London that Defender told me about. Could you please get in contact with them and tell them I'll be coming to school here the year after next?

London Watch

The New Knights of the Round Table

Nightwatch

These guys all know about the non-coven magical community, as some of the knights are muggleborns and they have to tell their life history upon joining. Heck, the U.N. knows about you guys, seeing as technology can trace individual energy signatures. Harry"

The two professors looked at the letter in shock. "Well, so much for the Statute of Secrecy. The muggles know, and just don't care, all thanks to these superheroes," said McGonagall in a huff.

Dumbledore nodded. "I think it's time to call an emergency ICW meeting soon and actually let the US delegation talk about this new facet of our lives. With the superheroes and technology now able to trace us, it just does us no good to hide, as that might make people think we have nefarious plans in the works. It's bad enough that some of or own people have those for the rest of us," he said, getting up. "However, that is for another day. Shall we go down to dinner, my dear?" Dumbledore held out his arm, which McGonagall took, and he led the two of them down to the Great Hall.

* * *

July 9th turned out to be the day that the wizarding world got turned upside-down. Getting in contact with the U.S. delegate, Gregory Jackson, Dumbledore asked that invitations to the meeting were given to Harry Potter and The Champions, as well as the U.S. Minister of Magic. Since Witchcraft was already going, The Trismegistus Council didn't need to send another representative. The Ministers of all the other ICW members, as well as the leaders of London Watch, The New Knights of the Round Table, and Nightwatch will also be there.

Everyone gathered in the Grand Amphitheater of the ICW building in Oslo, Norway, wondering why there were people in costumes standing near the U.S. group.

"Delegates of the International Confederation of Wizards, Ministers of your respected countries, honored guests, I have called for this emergency meeting to bring you terrible, yet joyous news," started Dumbledore. "Muggles know about magic..."

Pandemonium broke out after Dumbledore said those words, but before anyone could send orders to try and erase the memories of all the muggles, The Champions, specifically Witchcraft, went into action, casting a spell that made a large BOOM echo throughout the amphitheater, silencing everyone.

"Thank you, my dear," said Dumbledore. "As I was saying, muggles know about magic, but they don't care. In this day and age, they see it as just another superpower, one that can be used for good or evil. Take for example Witchcraft here. She is part of a group called The Champions who are known the world over as heroes. They are not the only group out there. There are many groups and individuals world-wide who use their powers to stop those who would cause harm or even destroy our world. I now call upon the U.S. Delegate, Gregory Jackson, to give a report on what is going on in his home country and what the statute means with these heroes and the new technology the muggles have that can track us."

"Thank you, Mr. Dumbledore,' said Mr. Jackson. "Ladies and gentlemen, I can now come forward with bad news. With the superheroes and villains running around, as well as the scanning technology the non-magicals have, the Statute of Secrecy is effectively defunct. We can no longer hide, not without being seen as villains ourselves. We must learn about and integrate with this new world, or face imprisonment, and yes, there are prisons out there that can hold even us, and can suppress our powers."

"What? That's impossible!" yelled Minister Fudge. He wasn't the only one. Mr. Jackson held up his hands.

"Minister Fudge, one more outburst like that and I'll see you removed from this assembly," said the U.S. delegate. Fudge sat down in a huff. "That's better. I now turn the floor over to the leader of The Champions, Defender." Said leader activated his jet boots and flew to the floor, shocking those who have not seen such advanced technology.

"Thank you, Mr. Jackson. People of the Wizarding World. Today I greet you in the name of humanity," said Defender. "Today, you learned that you no longer need to hide. Today, you learned that you can and will be treated fairly, though to be truthful, there are still a few idiots out there, but they tend to hate everything. Today, you learned that, for the most part, magic is accepted. Please, for the sake of our whole world, let go of the past, and help bring forth a better future for all." As he said this, Witchcraft came up to him and gave her boyfriend a short kiss and led him off the floor.

Professor Dumbledore then regained the floor. "We shall now take a vote on disbanding the Statute of Secrecy or not," he said. "Only the delegates shall vote, and by majority shall our fate be decided. Against?" About twenty wands lit up red. "For?" Save for two, the rest of the 108 delegates lit up green.

"By majority vote, the Statute of Secrecy is hereby disbanded. All ministries are to make an announcement of revelation through their countries muggle prime minister, king, or president as soon as possible," said Dumbledore. "I therefore call this meeting adjourned."

"Die, you muggle-loving blood traitor!" shouted several voices coming from the audience, and men wearing black robes with a silver skull mask over their faces rose up and started firing dark curses at everyone within range. Everyone that was being fired upon started screaming and running about with their heads cut off, trying to get away from the attackers, while others tried to retaliate.

"Death Eaters! We need to stop them!" shouted Dumbledore over the confusion. Defender nodded and took flight, using the non-lethal weapons he had to knock them out while Witchcraft bound them. Sapphire was happily blasting away against the Death Eaters, while Ironclad's metallic skin protected him from the curses as he just walked up to the attackers, picked them up, and tossed them into the wall... hard. Kinetik was dashing about, using his speed in conjunction with his martial arts moves to knock out the Death Eaters and remove them from the building. The British team's leaders were also doing what they could to help. The mystic armor of London Watch's Blazon alone reflected many curses, while Drune of Nightwatch, an exiled elven prince, and Sir Jacob (OC) of The New Knights, sliced through the Death Eater ranks, disabling them by striking the back of their necks, after they were cut up some, of course.

Harry, meanwhile, watched the ensuing chaos for a moment, then snuck away from Sirius and Remus to a hidden alcove. Once there, he activated his com-watch and shouted, "C.O.M.B.A.T., armor up!"

A few seconds later, C.O.M.B.A.T. flew into the amphitheater behind a group of Death Eaters who were holding Minister Fudge and a few others hostage. Quickly targeting the black robed idiots, C.O.M.B.A.T. fired his Power Gauntlet blasts, hitting all but one of the Death Eaters. That one had ducked once he heard the blasts firing, Turning around, he started to fire off the most lethal curse he knew. "Avad..." started the Death Eater, but was cut off as C.O.M.B.A.T. rushed into him, thanks to his jetpack-powered flight, with his laser sword activated, and initiated the Lightwave Slash, which not only knocked him out but knocked his mask off his face, revealing to all there his identity.

"Lucius Malfoy?" exclaimed Minister Fudge in shock. "No... no, it... it can't be..."

"Unfortunately, Cornelius, it is. Lucius here was willing to end your life to ensure he made it out after his attack went south, but thankfully, another hero was called in, and it was thanks to C.O.M.B.A.T. that we're still alive and Lucius was stopped," said Dumbledore solemnly.

Fudge looked at Dumbledore, then C.O.M.B.A.T. and the other heroes, thinking over all that he had learned and saw today. "Dumbledore, after today, I realize that we, especially in England, are in need of new leadership, of new blood, new ideas, with full knowledge of the rest of the world," he stated. "As my last act as Minister of Magic, I effectively resign, with stipulations that the queen choose the next minister from the muggleborns, with no interference from the ministry. It's time our world grew up."

"Very wise, Cornelius. I shall see it done," said Dumbledore. "As for now, I'll have the ICW Aurors gather the Death Eaters to be shipped back to England for trial, and this time, it will be done right." Fudge nodded, and left with the other ministers who were also thinking about today's events, especially about how the heroes helped them with no thoughts about their well-being.

As everyone left, Dumbledore went over to where The Champions, C.O.M.B.A.T. Sirius and Remus, and the leaders of the British teams were standing.

"Gentlemen and ladies, I do apologize for bringing you into this mess. I should have realized that Lucius Malfoy would have taken this opportunity to sow discord and devastation," said Dumbledore sadly.

"Don't be," said Witchcraft. "There is always going to be people like him, whether they're magical or not, who would rather destroy than change."

"All too true, as Mr. Potter knows, as I was almost like that," said Dumbledore as he pointed to C.O.M.B.A.T. "Though now, I think I'd better go lie down. This little side-adventure has burned through my mental fortification potions, and I can feel my mind slipping. Sirius, will you be able to discuss Harry bringing his armor to Hogwarts with these British heroes by yourself?"

"I think we can manage," said Sirius as Harry took his helmet off. "Though you, mister, are going to be grounded for a week due to this little stunt."

"I consider it well worth it, since it got us in a more favorable position with the ministries," said Harry.

"So you're the new young hero Kinetik's been blabbing about on his blog," said Sir Jacob, looking Harry over. "You have the look of a lord, but dang, you sure are a sturdy lad for being nearly ten."

"Thank you, sir," said Harry. "My godfather here told me a while ago that my family is an Ancient and Noble House in the British Magical Hierarchy."

"I sense a great deal of magic from you," said Drune suddenly. "Some of it is similar to my own. Tell me, are you of Elven decent?"

"I don't know, your highness. I have yet to go to Gringotts for an inheritance check," replied Harry politely.

"Well, I don't mind if Harry shows up every now and then to help fight crime and such," said Blazon. "Heck with him up in Scotland we might be able to better co-ordinate with the heroes up there and start getting more control."

"Agreed," said the other two leaders.

"I'll have one of my muggleborn knights contact the main heroes of Scotland, Evergreen and Dreamscape, to let them know that Harry's going to be coming in during his school years to help out when not in classes, unless it's a dire emergency," said Sir Jacob as everyone else nodded in agreement.

* * *

Returning back to Millennium City, Harry got back into his magical training and going on patrols with The Champions or the many solo heroes. Defender also trained Harry in the use of his armor and eventually gained the Invulnerable buff ability and the energy shield, which was a much stronger defense feature than just using his arms to block.

It was at this time that Kodiak, the bearish F.B.I. agent assigned to the MCPD called for help is dealing with one of the Westside gangs. Kevin Poe, leader of The New Purple Gang, was trying to racketeer the restaurant owners of Little Italy, which was not too far from the police station. Kodiak thought that there might be more to this than scamming money, and so called for a hero who was relatively unknown, hence why Harry was going, since while Kevin is a trickster with both guns and his powers, he's a wimp who really can't take a hit. (1)

The first couple of days involved stopping the racket and getting The New Purple Gang members off the street, which took a while as said gang members were persistently moronic when it came to doing what Poe wanted. C.O.M.B.A.T., however, was enjoying himself, as he was getting bored with rescuing Martha Reese's cat Reggie... for the 77th time.

Three days later, a major break in the investigation on Kevin Poe's activities appeared. The money that the crooks were taking was being funneled through the sewers to a warehouse. The police officers watching the warehouse recorded other gangs coming and going from there. C.O.M.B.A.T. was given the mission to go through the sewers to the warehouse. Once in, he would open the way for Defender to come in from outside the building to try and take down everyone inside.

As C.O.M.B.A.T. entered the sewers, he heard a Loan Shark and a Cleaner talking.

"Where's the bags? They should have made another drop by now." said the Loan Shark.

"Don't know, boss," replied the Cleaner. Just then. A set of money bags were dropped from above. "There they are!" The Cleaner went over and picked up the bags. "Let's go!" he said is a sort of effeminate voice and wiggle. (2)

It was then that C.O.M.B.A.T. walked forward out of the shadows.

"It's C.O.M.B.A.T.! Let's run for it!" shouted the Loan Shark, and the pair ran towards the entrance of the neighboring tunnel.

C.O.M.B.A.T. quickly charged after them, catching them before they could round the next corner. He quickly took out the Cleaner, then focused his attacks on the Loan Shark, who was tougher, but he eventually was able to get close enough to use the Lightwave Slash.

C.O.M.B.A.T. repeated this as he traveled through the sewers, which included retrieving the access codes for the door in the second chamber, though why the Loan Shark guarding the door had it on him left A.M.O.S. wondering if Kevin Poe was just going for numbers instead of people who can actually think.

In the final chamber under the warehouse, a Tommygun was waiting for him. This guy was even tougher than even the Hired Muscle C.O.M.B.A.T. just faced, though do to the reload time on the guy's gun, he was easily taken down, it just took some time.

* * *

As C.O.M.B.A.T. entered the warehouse, A.M.O.S. was talking to him.

**[Harry, I'm picking up multiple contacts, including... the gang bosses,]** said the A.I.

"So we're right, they are collaborating," replied Harry as he finished up with the Loan Shark and Blade Man. Entering the hallway, he comes across members of The Cobra Lords, a biker gang that's also active in West Side.

**[Hmm... a Coyote, a Vulture, and a Bronco. These three are the low-level thugs,]** said A.M.O.S.

Just then, the three noticed C.O.M.B.A.T. and rushed in with their attacks. The power armor fighter was a bit hard pressed, but managed to knock out the three.

The next room further down had more New Purples, as well as the console needed to let Defender in. Doing the usual Blast and Slash dance, C.O.M.B.A.T. cleared the room and released the door locks for Defender.

"Good work, C.O.M.B.A.T. I've penetrated the other side of the building," said Defender on the radio. "Let's trap these miscreants between us."

_Who says miscreants anymore? _thought Harry to himself in wonder as he entered the next hallway. There he came across some new gang members, these three coming from The Cult of The Red Banner.

**[A Foot Soldier, a Martial Artist, and the aptly named Thug,]** said A.M.O.S. **[Be careful, as except for the Foot Soldier and the magic users, these guys are all close quarters combatants.]**

C.O.M.B.A.T. just nodded to himself, then engaged said miscreants. Using the Lightwave Slash, which can hit multiple close range targets, he quickly took care of the Thug and Martial Artist, then followed up with a couple of Power Bolts and a Power Gauntlet blast at the Foot Soldier, knocking him out.

Once he was finished, C.O.M.B.A.T. headed down the rest of the hallway, where a closed door awaited him. Slowly opening the door, A.M.O.S. activated the recorders as the two stayed in the door frame.

**[Looks like the Maniacs and The Black Aces are also involved with this. That pretty much every gang in West Side. Look, someone's coming,]** said A.M.O.S. **[Oh, blast it, it's Hi Pan. That's just what we need, though from the looks of it, he's going to make a speech. Zooming in.]**

"For too long, have we been at each others throats, like a pack of feral dogs," started Hi Pan, who paused to look at the other leaders or representatives.

"The late Qularr attack has weakened the Mirreny... the Minneny... bah! MCP. Now it the time to unite! And claim what should be ours! Hmm, it seems we have uninvited guests." Hi Pan said this as he looked over at the two doors in the room, seeing both C.O.M.B.A.T. and Defender. "I just remembered a most pressing engagement elsewhere... time to go!" With that, Hi Pan teleported himself and the leaders and representatives out of the building.

"Blast, so much for that. Oh, well, at least we can go knock some teeth loose," said C.O.M.B.A.T. as he and Defender charged into battle, which also was a minor gang war as the lower level members were all still there and were firing at everything that moved.

C.O.M.B.A.T. had a basic plan - let the idiots wear themselves out on each other, then finish the job and knock them out. Which would have worked, if it wasn't for a Scorpion, a mid-level Cobra Lord, wrapping a chain around C.O.M.B.A.T.'s waist and pulling him off his feet. Getting back to his feet, C.O.M.B.A.T. decided to vent a little... mis-placed aggression on the misguided thug. According to later prison records, the particle burn on his scalp has yet to heal, and both the doctor and guards are still wincing at the though of what was done to the man's private sector.

Finally, all that was left was Hi Pan's guards, a Thug, a Martial Artist, and a Foot Soldier. C.O.M.B.A.T. quickly took on the Foot Soldier, who didn't last long, then joined up with Defender against the other two, who crumpled against the heavy assault.

Defender looked over at the Scorpion who was laying in a heap against one of the columns. "Wasn't that a little overboard?" he asked his young partner while shaking his head.

"Let's just call it a long day and leave it at that," replied C.O.M.B.A.T., his head down in shame.

Defender just nodded. "Report back to Kodiak. I think after this, the gangs are going to go to ground for a while," he said.

Which is exactly what they did. "One moment, we're getting calls about different gang activity all over West Side, the next, nothing. I guess you and Defender crashing their get-together spooked them for now," said Kodiak jovially. "Don't worry, this happens all the time. They'll probably turn up again in a couple of years after making sure the heats off them. In the meantime, we can better prepare for them.

C.O.M.B.A.T. nodded in agreement, then left for home.

* * *

Over the next year there was little activity going on in West Side as the gangs were getting ready for their big move. Harry was trained in fire rescue, which proved to be a big help when a fire broke out in the upper floors of the bank in Renaissance Center.

A week before Harry's birthday, his Hogwarts letter arrived. Harry sent back a response stating that he was coming, and the three young men got ready for their trip to Diagon Alley.

* * *

(1) For those that have played the game, Kevin Poe's new attack set are just this side of Foxbat-level annoyance, as he's now a combination of void and gunslinger. The only decent types that have a chance against him are the elementals, psychics, mage, void, force, gunslinger, archer and power armor. The hand to hand fighters that have a rush move have a decent chance of keeping him in range. Everyone else, be prepared for a lot of running.

(2) You have to see it to believe it.

AN - Holy Smokes! A second update within the same week? That hasn't happened since I first started writing, though I should probably back off a bit so I don't burn out.


	3. Global Exposure

**Chapter Three - Global Exposure**

* * *

It was July 31st, Harry's birthday, and he, Sirius, and Remus were standing outside The Leaky Cauldron, the magical pub that hides the entrance to Diagon Alley.

"This is the place?" said Harry as he stared disbelievingly at the shabby building. The too-tall-for-his-age lad now stood just shy of 5'11", and according to his doctors, was going to get even larger.

"Sure is," said Sirius in an excited voice. "This is where your journey on the wizarding world begins."

Harry looked at his godfather for a moment, then turned to his honorary uncle and asked, "Did you give him sugar this morning? I sure as heck didn't."

"No, he's only slightly hung-over, though he is also living one of his dreams of bringing you here for the first time," replied Remus as Sirius stuck his tongue out at them.

"Let's go on in, gentlemen, and I use the term loosely," said Harry as he headed in the doorway, followed closely by Sirius and Remus.

Inside the old pub was dark and a bit musty with the smell of stale drink and torch smoke. Patrons were hunched over the tables and bar in quiet conversation until they noticed the group of three men entering the building. A toothless man with a walnut-wrinkled face looked up from cleaning a glass and smiled in recognition.

"Ah, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. How wonderful it is to see you again," said the barman. "Will you be having your usual?"

"Not right now, Tom," said Remus. "We're just passing through on the way to Gringotts."

"Gotcha. I won't hold you up any longer," said Tom as he went back to cleaning.

Once outside, Harry let out a small breath he had been holding. "Good thing we didn't announce my name, or I would have been bombarded," he said to his guardians.

"You know, maybe we should go back and introduce Harry to these fine people," said Sirius with a smirk on his face.

"You do, and the next time you're Padfoot will find yourself at the vet getting an 'operation'," said Harry darkly, his face matching his tone of voice.

"I'll be good," said Sirius quickly, covering his lower mid-section with his hands while Remus laughed.

"Come on, let's get to Gringotts for the inheritance test," said the werewolf as he led them to the white marble building that houses the bank's surface levels.

The test did prove that Drune was somewhat right. Harry did have some Elven blood in him, but it was such a small part of his overall makeup that all it did was make his magic about .05% stronger, and even then, that went to healing magic, in other words, what kept him alive while with the Dursleys.

Getting some money from his trust vault, Harry and his guardians left the bank to get his supplies.

* * *

Meanwhile, a young man covered in a neutral brown cloak was in a used book store close to the entrance of Knockturn Alley, searching for a book, any book, that could help him.

_Stupid DEMON cult, cursing me with their demonic powers. Stupid parents with their 'Holier than thou' attitude, forcing me out of the family for bring 'Dark Magic' into their lives. Stupid Ministry of Magic, for trying to kill me just because I'm no longer fully human. Damn bitch is probably even less human than I am,_ thought the young man under the cloak named Eric Henson. Last year on his 18th birthday his celebration was interrupted by the world-wide cult known as DEMON. Led by Luther Black (no relation to Sirius), DEMON's sole purpose is to release the Kings of Edom onto the Earth in the hopes that these demonic entities grant them immense power and rulership over the planet. One of their plans was to create vessels of their power here on Earth. Eric was one of those chosen. He was the only one in the ritual chamber to survive.

As the ritual to forge Eric into the vessel of power commenced, two of the runes were cast wrong, changing the power from inhumanly evil to user's choice, as well as granting him access to all five known Kings of Edom, instead of just one.

The power backlash ripped apart the forces of DEMON, but left all the other humans in the hideout alive and unaffected, and Luther Black fled before the initial explosion. His parents, thinking that powers like that were evil, no matter how they were used, banished him from their family and no longer acknowledge him as their son.

_They probably won't even accept me if I ever do strip myself of this power, but I've got to try,_ thought Eric as he leafed through the book in his hands, hoping for something that can break his curse.

* * *

Back with Harry and the gang, after getting a trunk and book bag for his things, the trio headed to Madam Malkin's for his school robes. Inside, they ran into someone Sirius never thought he'd see again.

"Cissi, is that you?" Sirius asked of the young lady standing next to the counter as she watched her son getting fitted for robes.

Turning around, the three of them were in shock. Narcissa Malfoy nee Black's once beautiful face was covered with bruises and a couple of recent cuts, with her right cheek swollen and a bright shiner of a black eye on the same side. Looking over at Draco, he also sported a couple of bruises, though his were older and nearly healed.

"Siri? Oh, Siri, it is you!" cried Narcissa as she flung herself into his arms. "Please, you got to help me and my son. Lucius is not the man I had married, not any longer. His cruelties are beyond anything our parents ever did to us."

Sirius, once he got over seeing his second favorite cousin's (Andromeda being first and Bellatrix being dead last) face beat up like that, growled loudly and felt a deep, rising anger that was taking everything he had not to explode.

"How did he get out of prison?" asked Remus.

"He managed to bribe his way out again. That was the last straw for the Wizengamot. Umbridge, who replaced Fudge, got voted out and Amelia Bones took her place," replied Sirius.

"Oh, right. Forgot about that article," said Remus quietly.

"He came into the manor like a man possessed. As soon as his eyes laid on me, he charged over and started beating me since he couldn't take his anger out on you," said Narcissa with tears in her eyes. "Draco tried to intervene, but was smacked into a wall for it."

"Well, seeing as he defaulted on the marriage contract due to not reading the fine print, I can get you out of the marriage. Remus, can you watch the boys while I go with Cissi to Gringotts? Malfoy is gonna wish he never heard the name Black when I'm done," said Sirius in as level a voice he could manage, his eyes flashing darkly with his inner rage.

"Go do what you need to do, we'll be fine here and wait for your return," said Remus, and the pair hurried out to void the contract.

"My soon-to-be ex-father is going to be very angry once he feels the contract break," said Draco in a worried voice.

"Which means we better call in some backup. Georgina, can I use your floo to call the DMLE?" asked Remus.

"Sure thing, Remus. Let me get the powder," said Madam Malkin.

"Harry, use your com-watch to contact The New Knights of the Round Table and get some of the Muggleborns over here as soon as possible."

"Permission to use the armor?" asked Harry.

"Granted. Have A.M.O.S. use the scans of the weakened Dark Mark, that will be your targeting signature," said Remus as he went into the back to use the floo.

"What did Mr. Lupin mean by armor, and just how are you so big anyway?" asked Draco curiously as Harry talked with the knights. Draco thought to himself, _Muggle technology sure does make things a lot easier._

"You're about to find out," said Harry as a bunch of Death Eaters apparated in. "Lucius must have been with his other cronies for them to get here this fast. C.O.M.B.A.T., armor up!" In seconds, the teleporter beam surrounded Harry as his armor beamed in, encasing the young man in the blue on black Holo-Hex Ablative Armor.

Draco and Georgina Malkin could only stare at how cool the armor looked on the young hero, while Remus looked at him proudly.

Pulling out a device, C.O.M.B.A.T. handed it to Remus and said, "As soon as I leave, activate the magnetic shield projector."

"I hope this works. We still haven't gotten the right frequency for this to repel magic consistently," said Remus with worry.

"Either way, the Knights and I are gonna try and herd them over to Knockturn Alley. Maybe we'll be lucky and we can blow up Borgans and Burkes!" said C.O.M.B.A.T. excitedly.

Remus just shook his head. "Get out of here, you big lug. You're missing the fight." C.O.M.B.A.T. opened the door, quickly charged up his jetpack, and flew outside. As Remus closed the door, Draco called out, "Where can I get one of those suits?" Remus laughed at the excited look on the boy's face.

* * *

Lucius Malfoy was pissed. With the breaking of his marriage contract by that blasted head of the Ancient and Noble House of Black, his ranking was downgraded from Noble back to Newcomer, being his family moved from France back in the mid-1700's, and had either needed to wait five hundred years or marry into one of the Ancient and Noble houses to move into the Noble rank, which is what he did by marrying Narcissa Black. However, with the breaking of the contract, not only was the Malfoy name back where it started from, so was his political power, for no-one in the Ministry listens to a Newcomer.

Using the threat of unleashing his wrath on the Death Eater cronies he was with at the time once they realized he lost a lot of political power, the group made their way to Diagon Alley to start blowing everything to kingdom come.

A cart full of cabbages was the first to succumb to their rage. As the destroyed leaves fell to the ground, the cart owner looked at the ones who fired the curse in the first place with undisguised anger.

"Every world... every lifetime I've lived through... all I had wanted to do was raise my cabbages and sell them to people who wanted to enjoy them, but no. Each and every time I get sent down here through the reincarnation cycle, it's the same thing! My cabbages get destroyed! First it was the Avatar, the Last Airbender, followed by that Waterbender girl who was next in the cycle, then it was that blond loudmouth who housed the Nine-tailed Demon Fox, and now it's you guys! Enough is enough! For the cabbages!" yelled the cabbage seller after his rant was done as he charged at the Death Eaters. He was almost on top of them when Goyle managed to fire off an Avada Kedavra. The man, after dying, thought to himself as he moved on to heaven, _Maybe that wasn't such a good idea._

Meanwhile, the Death Eaters were just getting into the rhythm of destruction when a powerful beam of energy blasted Crabbe, Sr. into the wall next to the Diagon Alley entrance. The others turned to look at who fired the blast, and saw that it was the same blue on black armored person who captured Lucius Malfoy at the ICW meeting last year.

"You!" growled the blond inbred degenerate as the others took on a battle stance.

"Me," said C.O.M.B.A.T. in a steady, even voice. "I'm so glad you decided to show up today and save me the trouble of tracking you down."

"My last team and I may not have been ready for you at the ICW, but we're aware of you now, and have you out-numbered," sneered Lucius Malfoy, however, that sneer was lost as a large blast of hellfire came from above and took out another seven of the Death Eaters.

"Is this a private party or can anyone join?" asked the guy up in the air. He was wearing a mostly black suit with hellfire green and platinum as the secondary colors. Platinum gems brightly shined on his leg bands, bracers and the chest of his flared chestplate. His face looked human, though he had pointed ears and instead of being white, the sclera was also glowing hellfire green. His hair, while a muddy blond, had the same green on the tips. A soul patch, a hellfire aura and the spiky eyebrows completed the ensemble.

"The name's Hellbane," said the guy as he dropped next to C.O.M.B.A.T.

"I heard of ya," said the cyber-suit warrior. "Heard you've been trying to strip yourself of those powers you got. My friends and I researched the ritual. Hate to tell you this, but thanks to that screw-up, the powers were stripped off the kings completely devoid of the dark essence they came from. When they entered you, they became yours to command for the rest of your now immortal life.

"Fate must have a sick sense of humor," said Hellbane, looking up at the sky.

"That she does, unfortunately for us," said C.O.M.B.A.T.

"What the blazes are you to babbling about over there!" yelled Lucius Malfoy in anger that he was being ignored.

"Whoops! Sorry, forgot all about you guys. That was just shop talk. Nothing that concerns inbred idiots like you," said Hellbane as he formed a Hellfire Blast ready to fry these morons.

"You just had to rile them up again, didn't you?" asked C.O.M.B.A.T. as he got his blasters charged. However, before anyone could attack, another group dropped in.

"Knights, attack!" yelled the squad leader of The New Knights of the Round Table, as he and the other knights started trampling the Death Eaters into the ground.

"Well, that was a bit anti-climactic," said Hellbane as the pair relaxed a bit.

"You can say... check that, got a couple of runners," replied C.O.M.B.A.T. as he spotted Malfoy and Goyle Sr. run away in different directions. "I got skinny, you take fatso."

"Hey, why do I have to take lard butt?" asked Hellbane in indignation.

"You're closer!" yelled C.O.M.B.A.T. as he jetted off after the elder Malfoy.

"Blast it," muttered the demon-powered human as he flew off after Goyle.

Neither of the runners lasted very long, as C.O.M.B.A.T. grabbed Lucius at about 70 mph, then quickly banged the moron's head against the wall a couple of times (more like eight) until he blacked out. Hellbane just kept it simple and fried Goyle until he was still alive, but extra-crispy.

With Lucius and the others captured again and no Fudge in office to bribe, it was the end of them being free to torture, rape or kill anyone ever again, even though there were still others who managed to evade capture.

* * *

"Well, if this is how all your crime-fighting goes, we're going to be glad to have you in the neighborhood," said Sir Jacob, who had come to inspect the results of C.O.M.B.A.T.'s and surprisingly, Hellbane's battle prowess. "Minimum loss of life as the cabbage seller was the only one killed, though according to reports, he was saying some very strange things... anyway, disabled a good majority of them, nice, nice... pre-fight banter was used effectively, kept short and no monologueing, always a plus... well, since Harry's only school age and is going to be a free agent up in Scotland, that leaves you, Mr. Henson. Because of your powers, no matter how purified, you cannot be accepted as a New Knight of the Round Table. However, there are openings in both London Watch and Nightwatch. Do you want to talk with the leaders?" Hellbane was stunned, but nodded yes all the same.

"Good, I'll set up an appointment for you to talk with Drune and Blazon." Placing a hand on Hellbane's shoulder, Sir Jacob continued. "You did good, son. I heard about the fallout you had with your parents. You didn't ask for these powers, but you stepped up and took responsibility for, and how, you used them. It they're too blinded to see that, it's their loss." Hellbane looked down, trying to hide his newly released tears. "If you ever need someone to talk to, my door's always open, as is Harry's here. Just don't ask him for dating advice, as he's only eleven," said Sir Jacob with a grin. Hellbane looked up at Harry in surprise, while Harry looked ready to punch the Knight in his face, though this was not seen under the helmet.

"Good day, gentlemen," said the knight, and he left to join his fellow knights.

"One of these days, I'm gonna shoot him right in the arse," grumbled Harry.

"Are you really only eleven?" asked Hellbane. Harry nodded in the affirmative as he reached up to remove his helmet. "But... but you're huge! How...?"

"Long story," replied Harry, now free of the helmet. Luckily they were in a private room at The Leaky Cauldron. "Let me get out of this and into the spare clothes I brought, and we can discuss this over dinner in a mundane restaurant." Hellfire agreed, and went to go change himself.

* * *

"And that's everything," said Harry as he and his guests, including Draco and Narcissa, dug into dessert. Harry and Eric exchanged their life stories over dinner in a private room at one of London's more upscale restaurants. During the meal, Narcissa and Draco decided to move away from England in order to keep away from Lucius Malfoy should he escape, and Sirius offered them their own apartment in Millennium City, which they gratefully agreed to.

"So Eric, have you decided which group you're going to join?" asked Harry of the demonic-empowered man.

"I'm not too sure. I was only here for research into my powers. I'm also a U.S. citizen, so it would make more sense for me to join one of the teams over there, especially around Vibora Bay," said Eric. "Something's going on over there, and it's giving me the creeps."

"Considering they have gangs of zombies, fallen angels, vampires, werewolves, and who knows what else roaming around, you might have better luck there than anywhere else," said Remus.

Just then, the ground started shaking with a mighty boom resonating through the air, and a large voice yelled out, "Puny heroes can't stop Grond!"

"Great, the Atomic Green Giant left Burning Sands and is on another world tour," yelled Harry over the noise as the group dove under the table.

"Aren't the two of you going out there to stop him?" asked Draco in a worried voice.

Harry and Eric looked at Draco as if he grew a second head. "What are you nuts?!" they exclaimed.

"One, Grond is about thirty feet tall, has four arms, is built like Kilauea and is just as explosive," said Harry.

"Two, we may be strong, but we're not that strong!" said Eric, stressed from the fact that the booms were getting closer.

"And three, Sirius wound ground me for five lifetimes if I went out there, armored superhero or not," said Harry as Sirius nodded his head, agreeing with that statement.

Another massive shake occurred, then Grond bellowed out, "Grond bored now! Grond leaving!" and with one more tremor, Grond leapt off to sights unknown.

"Man, am I glad that's over with," said Narcissa as the group got out from under the table.

"Just what was that?" asked Draco.

"Grond was once a small-time career criminal in New Mexico back in the 80's," said Eric. "The man he was had the worst bad luck. First, while he was in jail, he volunteered for medical testing in order to get a reduced sentence. Unfortunately he was injected with the wrong serum. No-one knows if this was the cause or not, but the guy went berserk. The guards tried to subdue him, but one tossed him into a shelf full of other chemicals, which entered his body through all the cuts he gained from the broken glass. Pushing past the guards, he escaped the medical center he was at for the testing and jumped into a heavily polluted river.. In the middle of a thunderstorm."

"Let me guess, the river was struck by lightning?" asked Harry, his eyes wide at the string of bad luck.

"You got it. What's worse is that the river ran next to Burning Sands. From what scientists could tell, he wandered into the old testing grounds after getting out of the river and fell in one of the irradiated pools," said Eric.

"Do you happen to know what his name was before his transformation?" asked Sirius.

"According to public records, it was Sydney Potter," said Eric, stunning the others.

"You don't think..." started Remus slowly.

"Better to be safe than sorry," said Harry. "UNTIL probably has a genetic sample of Grond, so we could compare it to mine."

"What's going on?" asked Draco.

"Remus and Sirius has been telling me about my family, and that I had a great-uncle who was a squib who left for the U.S. as a young man. There's a good chance that Sydney Potter, A.K.A. Grond, is my cousin," said Harry flatly.

* * *

Thankfully, the U.K. UNTIL base was one of the few doing testing on Grond's biology, and the scientists did a genetic comparison between Grond's DNA and Harry's, which, shockingly to everyone there, proved to be a match.

Harry sat down hard on the chair behind him in shock. "Oh, Merlin. I knew the possibility was there, but still..." he said, leaving his statement unfinished.

"I know what you mean, and what's worse, I'm going to have to change my stance on facing him," said Sirius.

"What?!" exclaimed the others in the lab.

"What are you talking about?" asked Eric, anger present in his voice.

"An old family rule. No Potter, squib or wizard, cannot harm another, save for physical or magical defense practice," said Harry. "It basically means that I have the only chance of getting Grond to stop long enough to try and get him to listen."

"Luckily, we don't need to deal with this now, considering you and Draco are going to Hogwarts next month," said Remus.

"That's for sure. Let's head back to the hotel. Narcissa, Draco, will the two of you be okay at The Leaky Cauldron?" asked Sirius.

"We'll be okay. Most of our stuff was already packed up, so we'll be ready to meet you for the portkey back to the U.S.," said Narcissa.

"Alright, we'll see you at the international transport office in the morning. Eric, it was a pleasure to meet you," said Sirius.

"Same here," said Eric. "I'm gonna stay around the U.K. for a while before I head to Vibora Bay."

"Good luck with that," said Harry, and the six left the UNTIL base and went their separate ways.

* * *

Harry, Sirius and Remus spent the next month showing Narcissa and Draco around Millennium City. The mother and son were in awe at the splendor of it all, especially Renaissance Center with all the heroes (for Draco) and Downtown, with all the shopping (for Narcissa).

Harry and Draco were walking through the park west of the center one day, about a week before school. Things were going nicely, until they saw a group of rough looking guys standing around near the stairs that connected Westside to the park.

"Inferno is heading into Westside, guys," radioed one of the purple clothed toughs. Looking up, Harry and Draco spotted the superhero they were talking about. Inferno was a once an ordinary worker at a natural gas plant. He is of Russian descent, what with his grandparents coming to the U.S. back in the 60's. However, due to an accident involving some stellar material falling into the area of the plant he was working in, he got changed into the superhero he is now, complete with very intense fire powers.

"Damn, The New Purple Gang must be monitoring hero traffic going into Westside," said Harry softly to Draco. "Let's go, I don't want them to become suspicious of us especially since you're in more danger than I am." Draco just nodded and the pair headed to the other side of the park.

Once out of the way, Harry told Draco to get to Defender's station and tell him what the gang was doing, then to wait for him there. Draco ran off, and Harry found an out of the way place to change into C.O.M.B.A.T.

* * *

"Heads up, C.O.M.B.A.T.'s heading..." started the New Purple Knife Man.

"Right towards your face!" shouted C.O.M.B.A.T. as he punched the thug with one very powerful right cross, knocking him out in one hit. The Heavy and the two Drivers, as well as the other Knife Man, quickly got their act together and started attacking C.O.M.B.A.T., but he kept up the assault with his particle blasts. It wasn't long before he finished off the Heavy and piled them all into a small heap. Looking at the other stairs. He saw Defender and Kinetik, who was on patrol, take care of the other groups.

"I see my cousin didn't take long in informing you what was going on," said C.O.M.B.A.T. as he flew up to Defender.

"They'll be quiet for a while, but will soon have a new group up here to monitor our movements," said Defender. "Something big is going to be happening soon in Westside, but the gangs are being extremely tight-lipped about it."

"I know, even Kodiak is getting nervous," said Kinetik.

"That's not good, especially since he ups his coffee intake at times like this," said C.O.M.B.A.T.

Defender and Kinetik just looked at each other. "Doesn't he usually drink decaf?" asked Kinetik.

"What do you think they run out of at the Westside station in the first two hours of his nerves getting the better of him," said a dead-panned C.O.M.B.A.T.

* * *

AN: Okay, that's enough filler. Next up Hogwarts. Also thanks to Wolfey141 for letting me use one of his characters, in this case Hellbane.


End file.
